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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781496962249 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 01/12/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 50 |
| File size: | 121 KB |
Read an Excerpt
R. U. Ready
By James Perrault
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2015 James PerraultAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4969-6225-6
CHAPTER 1
With all of the prophecies, the uncertain world economies, possible government collapse, earthquakes, super volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, meteor strikes, solar flares, medical epidemics, sort of massive nuclear event, etc. We can be left wondering what we may do in the event of any or some of these things happening on an extinction level. Any of these scenarios could leave us on our own to survive. Outside help would not be coming, ever.
In recent times we have experienced many large scale natural and man made disasters. These events have claimed the lives of many thousands of people as well as an astronomical amount of property and infrastructure loss and damage. Such localized disasters on even a very large scale will be met with an emergency response that is coordinated by various government and private agencies. Water, food, shelter and other essentials will be provided by these agencies. Keeping informed and waiting for help to arrive while using your common sense to stay as comfortable as possible is definitely what you should do if the disaster is such that emergency crews will definitely be coming.
The main focus of this book is the extinction level event. Entire continents will have all traces of life wiped out. A death toll of billions is the only time the extreme survival methods suggested in this book would be necessary to ensure the continuation of the human race. If something happens that affects billions of people and cuts off communications between continents to the point that no one knows the entire extent of the damage, the existing population must decide on an individual basis the best plan of action for them.
Could such an event happen? Of course it could. What type of huge catastrophe that may take place and when, seem to be in question but the likelihood of something extreme happening at some point in history seems inevitable. If you feel that an apocalyptic scenario is going to take place, this small book may be helpful to you in preparing yourself and your family in case of such an event.
Our only real needs for surviving are air, water, food and shelter, in that order. To the best of my ability I will try to present to you ways of ensuring that you can meets these basic needs for you and whoever you are with, under the most dire conditions. These suggestions are my opinion only, expand on them as you will or disregard them, that is for you to decide. Most people that contemplate any disaster scenario think about what would happen after a devastating catastrophe but are ill prepared mentally or physically to deal with the aftermath, should they survive the initial crisis. My hope and intent for writing this book is to help the readers to help themselves.
Even in a relatively minor event, the amount of professional help available will be minimal to non-existent. We must be ready to accept the fact that we are on our own. The types of possible catastrophes vary so greatly that there effects on our emotions and mental attitude would be impossible to predict. Everyone's response will be different. I wont be dwelling on the varying infrastructure downfalls of different scenarios, only making suggestions of what you might do should you find yourself in a position of needing to survive without assistance from outside agencies or government resources. In a brief way I will try to present a picture of what conditions exist that would necessitate the use of the suggestions contained in this book.
If humans as a species were to be completely annihilated by some kind of catastrophe, no-one would know about it because we would all be dead and our very existence would be only a blip on the radar of time and space. I think that complete extinction of all human life is quite unlikely. Enough humans will survive somewhere to start to rebuild the world population all over again. For those that do survive, there will be many physical and emotional pains to deal with. Staying focused on your own survival and helping others so you can better survive as a group will be very difficult.
In a post – apocalyptic world there will be an extreme need to help each other. This will cause people to evaluate just how good of a human being we really are. Survivors will have the opportunity to develop societies with whatever traditions and behaviours become acceptable to the group as time goes on. Hopefully the majority of people will see that getting along and helping each other is much more productive in the long run, rather then violence, aggression, and oppression.
There are still places on earth were people are quite isolated and live quite a simple life that is not much affected by the outlandish amount of unnecessary "stuff" that modern society seems to consider an integral part of our lives. Unless something happens that actually makes gathering food and water impossible, these people could continue there way of life without even knowing anything has happened to billions of other people. Life in these remote areas will just go on as if nothing even happened. Being without electricity or communication will have little or no effect on them. We could learn a lot from them.
Most of us have watched movies or read books that present one or more of the above mentioned scenarios. The majority of these brush past the real affect on the average person and the struggles we will have just to survive. Instead they intend to lead us into a false sense that everything will be OK. In reality, things will not be OK. Conditions we are used to will not exist or will deteriorate quickly. We may have no choice but to figure out how to survive on our own.
Our entire social structure that exists today is based on greed. People want material things or money to get more stuff, often at the expense of happiness or health. They feel they need to be looked at as better then the next guy because they have more stuff. Television, the internet, and other forms of mass media bombard people with messages that our lives will somehow be better if you acquire this stuff or that stuff. The amount of accumulated articles that are of little or no real use is staggering.
Our want for useless things will be a hard concept to abandon. If you cant switch your thoughts from this prevailing mindset and realize that, "what I need" to survive is all that matters, you may not survive at all. No-one is going to pamper you or anyone else. Pull up, help each-other, or die.
My hope is that after reading this book, people will feel somewhat prepared and that survival as a species is possible even in the worst possible conditions. Determining when to put the suggestions contained in this book to use will be a personal matter. You will know when to leave if you live in a city and you will know what to do if you live in a rural area.
A panic situation and total chaos will be the initial obstacle to overcome. Without some idea of what you should do and how to do it, your chances of survival are slim. Remember that no-one will be available to assist you. Money, prestige, or perceived political or social status will be of no help. The initial event will level the playing field. In fact the people in our society that have very little, may be better able to fend for themselves then well to do people that have never had to do things for themselves. The down and outer that knows how to survive on the streets will have some advantages over the penthouse dweller. My hope is that everyone can make use of the suggestions contained in this book. The reason I say leave in reference to city dwellers is because survival in a city will not be pleasant at the least and not even possible at the worst. All of the water, food, and fuel in a city is dependant on electricity or outside resources like trucks, trains, and ships. These resources will not be available. Any food in stores or restaurants will be gone in a very short time. Without electricity to purify and pump water, the supply will be cut off almost immediately. Without pumps, water will not go up. This will be the case in every apartment building everywhere. Each large building houses hundreds of people and after a very short period of time the stress of having to get water will start to show. With no water there will be thousands of people on the streets, and some possibly trying to get supplies and some people having no real idea of what to do.
With no electricity there will be no financial transactions, only cash and barter, and the cash will be of no more value then any other paper. You must get everything you will need to survive at the beginning of the crisis.
The fact that you will be in a situation were people with no plan of action will be creating an atmosphere of total panic and chaos will make a bad situation even worse. Your need to leave will be paramount. Helping others that are seriously injured or very ill and chancing your own survival, or ensuring your own survival, so you will be able to help more people in the days ahead, is a decision you alone will have to make. Probably our only chance of survival is being able to not panic and keep a clear head.
As I mentioned earlier the possibility of a wide spread panic does exist. If we allow our emotions to overwhelm us we could be doomed. An event of this type never before experienced will cause people to experience emotions of all sorts at levels we have never seen before.
Family members, friends, other people all dying or just gone. Homes destroyed, no transportation, no electricity. There may be corpses or seriously injured people all around. Keeping calm or not being caught up in any chaos will be hard to do.
In a society that runs as a unit with various levels of government being responsible for our safety and well being, adapting an "everyone for yourself" attitude may be difficult. Only a small percentage of survivors in any city or town will be trying to use violence or aggression to get what they think they need. The majority of people hopefully will be interested only in surviving and helping each other.
Much of our contemporary life is spent rushing around either trying to get money or spending money to get stuff we think we should have. Get everything we can while we are here and at any cost. The attitude that prevails in our society today will do little to ensure our survival. One of the hardest changes to come following a major event will be an attitude change from "want" to "need". Helping and sharing with our fellow survivors will be our only chance to make it in the new world.
The world we live in today has so much drama that a lot of people involved in stuff that is really non of there concern. He said this, she did that, etc. Is a lot of nothing that causes some people to think they should react in a negative manner that may cause harm to other people. Drugs, alcohol, gang membership, video game or any other petty things going on that cause people to be violent will seem like nothing in a post apocalyptic world.
Greed, selfishness, control issues, anger, manipulation, and other negative personality traits will only be handicaps. We must abandon the rational that we once used to justify these negative personality traits. Nothing that affects the group in a negative way will be of help to anyone. Compassion, co-operation, and inner strength will be the keys to continued survival. Were you are at the time of the event may not be with your loved ones. Thoughts of how can i get to my family, are they safe, will be going through your mind. There may be chaos all around with no help for you or anyone else. This is the time to stop, step back, and accept the event for what it is.
Every group and all individuals are going to have emotional stress in varying degrees to deal with. These situations will have to be dealt with as they arise. You must try to be positive about the days ahead and keep your focus on the fact that "right now we or I are alright". If we can maintain some positive thoughts, no matter how small, our chances of survival will be dramatically increased. Remember "right now we are OK". If you can do this and just continue to focus on what you know you must do, your chances of survival will be much better then the alternative, which is to panic. If you panic you will probably die.
If the situation is such that your survival instincts are telling you that right now I must do specific things if I am to survive, I feel your reasoning ability and your instincts will help keep your emotions from overriding your rational thoughts. Remember that all of your emotions will be active in mind bending proportions. Most will be negative. As soon as you become aware of the effect these negative emotions are having on you, you must switch to survival mode. At this point you will have to be able to focus on, what are the specific things I have to do right now? You will have to try to maintain this mindset and focus regardless of what is going on around you.
Our instincts as a species in our modern world have been damaged by our own desires to make our lives easier by having everything at our fingertips.
Our computers and other communication devices have even made entertainment such as movies and games into something we do not even have to leave the house to enjoy. Mass production of most products by mechanical means has even made work easy in a lot of peoples lives. Our vehicles almost drive themselves. We can go anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. If we have enough money we may even hire out our own work.
Our instincts that were once used for our own survival without all of our modern amenities, helped us find food and water, figure out how to build shelter using material that was naturally available and defend ourselves against wild animals and figure out what plants and animals were edible and which ones may be poisonous. The dulling of these senses because of our drift, as a society, away from our innermost instincts has caused a situation were a lot of people would be in a very bad position to survive in a post apocalyptic world. I think these instincts will rise from there sleep and help us all when the time comes to start over with none of our modern conveniences. Being a part of our genetic build as a species, our survival instincts will allow us to continue as a species.
In some parts of the world people still live in a relatively simple existence. These people may have a much better chance of being the people that re-populate the earth rather then people that live in a very modern world were tools and knowledge of how to live a simple life may not be available.
The people that study natural disaster scenarios seem to be quite sure that at some time in the future a catastrophic event will take place that will put the existence of the human race in peril. There seems to be a lot of natural occurrences that could jeopardize our very existence.
There are about seven billion people spread out in all inhabitable parts of the world. The chances that somehow some people would survive seems to be quite good. Re-building civilization by pro-creation to increase our numbers will be of utmost importance. As numbers increase, the need for some rules and decision making will develop. How the groups will develop as a society is anyone's guess. There will not be much discussion of this subject in these pages.
How to exist and make sure that as a group, our basic needs of water, food and shelter are met, seems to be the only thing we should concern ourselves with at all. If it may happen, when it may happen, what it may be, are all good questions with no good answers until something happens. Reading, watching movies, or other media about the predicted results of various catastrophic events, both man made and natural is a good source of entertainment. The down side of watching this material is that it can cause some people to become concerned that an event is imminent. No-one can possibly predict with any accuracy what event or when an event may occur.
All of the predicted doomsday scenarios made in the past have been proven false by the fact that we are still here. If all of the past predictions were based on some kind of evidence or belief based on various ancient texts, much like most predictions, they probably should be viewed with a lot of scepticism and even a good dose of humour.
The longer we continue to live with advancing technology the further away from how we are suppose to live as a species we are getting.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from R. U. Ready by James Perrault. Copyright © 2015 James Perrault. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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